I don’t say a word as I watch him reach for the handle. I guess I just don’t really know what else to say at the moment besides, “Do you have a name or should I just give you one?”

He squeezes the handle and pushes the door open, the smell of Vanilla seeping out. He freezes, but doesn’t turn back to face me. “Memphis,” he says in a flat tone. “Don’t forget to lock the door.”

Stepping inside, he turns around to face me with a slight look of humor on his face. He grips the doorframe, his muscles flexing as he looks down at my neck. “Nice camera.” His lip curls into a half smile before he shuts the door behind him, once again leaving me standing by myself.

“This feels awfully familiar,” I mumble while showing myself out of the garage, but not before locking it of course.

After closing the door behind me I turn around to see Bailey walking around the side of the house. She looks lost until her eyes land on me.

“What the hell?” She gives me a questionable look while jogging through the grass to keep up with me as I walk toward the front of our house. “I’ve been looking for you for over twenty minutes now. If you were going to be sexing up our mysterious neighbor, you could at least leave a note saying so.”

I let out a humorous snicker as I reach the porch. “Sorry. I thought it was only going to take like five minutes or so. You know, just a quickie to hold me over until later.” I wink and walk in the house, peeking into the living room to see what all the noise and screaming is about.

Landen is sitting next to one of his work buddies, Liam, and they’re both yelling at the TV while playing Call of Duty. Clearly, they’re sucking ass.

Jumping to his feet, Landen yells down at Liam while pulling on his black hair. “How the hell could you not see that shit? Open your eyes, man! He was right there.”

“Well fuck! My bad,” Liam mutters. “I got this shit now. I got it, man. Sit down.”

Bailey grabs my shoulder and turns me around to face her. “You can’t say something like that and just walk away. Put that mouth of yours to use.” She tilts her head and cracks a smile. “Or did you already?”

Liam peeks over the back of the couch at us with wide eyes. “What am I hearing about you girls putting your mouths to use?” He turns back to the TV when Landen punches him on the shoulder, hard. “Fuck!”

“You’re the worst back up ever.” Landen looks over his shoulder at Bailey and winks.

Walking up behind Liam, I push his head down and laugh. “You’re lucky you’re harmless, Liam.” I mess up his hair and wrap my arm around his neck in a hug.

Liam is a like a cute little puppy that you just want to take home and cuddle to death. He’s about five foot ten, short blonde hair, and an adorable baby face that makes you just want to pinch his cheek. It’s hard to take him seriously, so I just laugh him off. He’s been a good friend though and I really like having him around.

“That’s messed up, Landen. Lyric just put me in the harmless category.” He drops his controller. “I quit. My man card was just taken away.”

“Dude!” Landen complains while setting his controller down and motioning for Bailey to sit on his lap. “You’ve never had one to begin with.”

I release Liam’s neck and give Landen a hard look. I’m not done with him yet. I’m still mad about my pizza. I even ordered extra bacon on my half. “Just remember.” I grab Bailey’s hand and pull her off of Landen’s lap. “Six weeks,” I say firmly, which gets a grunt from Landen. “Come on, Bailey. Let me take a look at your lip before I spend the next two hours stuck behind my computer. I need to get these pictures edited.”

Bailey gives Landen a side kiss, avoiding her piercing as she stands up and follows me to my room.

Flipping on my light, I take a quick look at her lip just to make sure there’s no infection. Not that I expect there to be since I did it myself, but Bailey is like a sister to me. I want to look out for her.

“Looks so good,” I say with a smile. “Any regrets yet?”

She shakes her head and looks over my shoulder in the mirror. “Not at all. Do you know how badass I feel with this thing?” Her tone is teasing.

“Well you sort of have to be badass to be my friend,” I say with a smirk. “It’s only right.”

“Yeah, you were sort of hogging the spotlight at first with your sweet tattoos and nipple rings, being stingy and crap. You can share for a while, dammit. I have to take a couple steps up to get on your level, but I’m one step closer, baby.” She brags while backing up toward the door and giving me her pierced side. “And I still want details about our sexy neighbor. Don’t think that I won’t be barging in here after Landen and Liam leave, ‘cause I will. You better believe that. I want to hear all about . . . wait. What the hell is his name?”

Thinking about him makes me curious all over again. I can’t help but to get lost deep in thought.

“Lyric?”

Looking up at her, I raise my eyebrow and pull my camera off my neck. “Memphis.”

“Really?” She thinks about it for a second before repeating his name under her breath. “I like that. It’s sexy and sort of mysterious. Don’t ya think?”

“Yeah,” I whisper. “Mysterious alright.” I take a seat in front of my computer and spin around to turn it on. I hear Bailey walk away, so I turn on my camera and relax in my chair while waiting for my computer to boot up. The first picture that pops up is of Memphis gripping the heavy bag, his muscles flexing through his white shirt.

I swallow hard while pushing back the thoughts of wanting to see every last inch of what is under that wet material, feeling it with my own hands. There’s something about Memphis that draws me to him. Maybe it’s his broody personality, or the opacity of his emotions. He seems dark. That alone should be pushing me away, but it doesn’t. It only gives me a thrill to find out more.

I guess you stick with what you’re used to . . .

LEANING AGAINST THE WALL WITH my face buried in my arm, I take a long, deep breath before slowly releasing it and looking around me.

Standing alone in the hallway of this house, the emptiness consumes me, bringing back all the memories of the past. When I close my eyes all I see is the misery and heartache that once lived in this house. The feeling is almost too hard to describe and definitely too hard to swallow.